Girls eye first Cup as Boys avoid Spoon
Olivia Mehaffey has won four matches out of four for Ireland in the Girls' Home Internationals. Picture: Pat Cashman
Ireland's Girls team must beat England to win the Home Internationals for the first time at Lanark Golf Club on Friday after the Boys headed back from Conwy with third place and their sights set on a home win in Ballyliffin next year.
In the Girls' matches, Ireland have a chance to avenge defeat to England in last year's title decider when they meet head to head once more on the final day.
And they will be looking once more to Olivia Mehaffey for leadership after she maintained her 100 percent record with two more wins as Ireland beat Wales 7-2 and England saw off Scotland 5.5-3.5.
Ireland took the foursomes 2-1 with a two up win for Annabel Wilson and Mairead Martin over Ella Griffiths and Jordan Ryan before Mehaffey and Lisa O'Shea beat Bethan Morris and Angharad Evans 3 and 2.
Julie McCarthy and Elisa Corcoran lost on the 18th to Nicola Wainwright and Sadie Dewinton-Davies but they made amends in the singles, winning their matches as Ireland took the head to head clashes 5-1.
Hermitage's Ciara Casey was approximately one under par as she beat Evans by 5 and 3, while Mehaffey beat Lucy Jones by 3 and 3 and Niamh McSherry saw off Olivia Kelly 2 and 1.
The legend himself arrived to support #teamireland #fav 👩👩👧👦 pic.twitter.com/4JgunMU4gn
— Olivia Mehaffey (@OliviaMehaffey) August 6, 2015
At the Boys Home Internationals, Scotland enjoyed a memorable 9½ - 5½ win over defending champions England to secure their first Boys Home Internationals title in nine years at Conwy (Caernarvonshire) Golf Club in Wales.
There was drama to the end, especially when Scott Knowles’ Scotland side sensed victory against a strong England line-up seeking their fourth title in five years. It wasn’t to be, however, as Scotland bridged the gap to their last win which was on home soil at Moray Golf Club in 2006.
SCORES
All week Scotland displayed a steely determination and strong sense of camaraderie. They set out their stall with a 10-5 win over 2013 champions Ireland then defeated hosts Wales 9½ - 5½.
Ireland avoided the wooden spoon with a 9-6 win over Wales but failed to hit the heights of their win at Forest Pines in England two years ago.
The sides also went into the singles level after sharing the foursomes session 2½ - 2½ and for a large part of the afternoon the match could have swung either way.
Ireland’s Thomas Mulligan had another tough battle that went the distance before winning the top match against Tom Williams by one hole. The advantage was quickly cancelled as Ben Chamberlain recorded his third singles win of the week with a two hole victory over Kevin LeBlanc.
Ireland edged closer to victory when Rory Williamson birdied the par three 15th from 10 feet but was followed in by Aled Greville before the Holywood golfer closed out the match at the next to win 4&2.
That left Peter Kerr to secure the decisive point for Ireland when he defeated Wales’ Matthew Harris 4&3 in the bottom match.
Next year Ireland will host the 2016 Boys Home Internationals when they take place at Ballyliffin's Glashedy Links from August 4-6.
Ireland captain Cathal McConn said: "We played solidly through the day to beat Wales, no stars and no weak links, a good team performance. We used the substitutes well because it’s a long week playing 36 holes a day and many of the matches went the distance.
“Four of this team are eligible again for Ballyliffin in 2016 and we have more players to come through. We will try to capitalise on our home advantage next year.”
